The word “knitting” normally evokes quaint images of grandma sitting in her rocking chair by the fireplace, needles and yarn in hand, as she makes a pair of mittens for her grandchildren to wear while they play in the snow.

Less likely are images of self-appointed social justice warriors demanding fealty to a cause as they systematically expunge conservatives from online forums. Even less likely are images of physical confrontations occurring at in-person knitting gatherings.

In 2019, a blog post about a knitting enthusiast going to India exploded into a debate about “colonialism” and “white supremacy” in the pastime. A series of commentaries posted on the website Quillette detailed how the online social justice squabble bled out into the real world, resulting in real-life altercations between knitting enthusiasts in England.

Jon Kay, a senior editor at Quillette and editor of the new book, “Panics and Persecutions: 20 Quillette Tales of Excommunication in the Digital Age,” has his own thoughts on this epic yarn.

“It’s tragi-comic,” explains Kay, “It’s hilarious because these are people who knit, but it’s also tragic in the sense that a lot of these people, like, this is their life and their community. Their social community is other people who knit on these Instagram groups and other social media, and they’re getting thrown out.”

Kay joins “The Daily Signal Podcast” to talk about the absurdity of the knitting incident, as well as cancel culture more generally.

We also cover these stories:

• During a House Homeland Security Committee hearing, Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, asked Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas whether he was warned about the flood of Haitian migrants arriving at the southern border.
• After a phone call between President Joe Biden and French President Emmanuel Macron, France’s ambassador to the United States, Philippe Etienne, who had been recalled, will be returning to Washington next week.
• Former President Donald Trump has filed a lawsuit against his niece and The New York Times over tax documents of his that she leaked.

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